Winter outdoor housing

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Feeding place on a winter pasture in February.
The same feeding place in August, without reseeding.

With winter pastures , winter grazing , winter outdoor entertainment or Year-round outdoor entertainment the grazing of farm is livestock referred to in the winter. The alternative to pure grazing on grassland are field pens ( grazing of accrued volunteer grain and accompanying flora ) or straw pens (small areas that are generously littered with straw). The opposite is the winter stable .

Animal health

In principle, cattle , horses , sheep , goats , pigs and poultry can also be kept outdoors in winter, provided certain conditions are met. On the one hand, the animals must be adapted to the winter climate and have time to adjust to the approaching winter (e.g. by forming a winter coat). On the other hand, the animal owner must ensure that the animals have enough food, water and access to weather protection and, if necessary, a dry place to lie on. Hedges, buildings, walls, stacked straw bales, for example, can serve as weather protection. It can become problematic if lower-ranking herd members are denied access to feed, lying areas and weather protection by higher-ranking animals. Particularly in the case of cattle with horns, it is important to ensure that the dimensions are large enough. For cattle in particular , this rearing method, if properly implemented, can also be judged positively with regard to animal health. Compared to the stable are z. B. less respiratory diseases detected. Please note, however, that there may be a higher risk of ingestion of parasites in the case of food contamination (through direct placement on the floor) and the use of natural waters for drinking water.

Cost savings

Keeping suckler cows outdoors in winter is one way of saving costs. No stable buildings need to be built (around 20% less capital requirement) and maintained. The removal of manure and disposal of excrement only affects littered lying areas or shelters and leftover feed on the winter pasture. In addition, grazing in winter also saves canned feed ( hay , silage ) if there is still sufficient winter feed "on the stalk". A working group at the Justus Liebig University in Giessen has been working on this topic for almost two decades. Overall, the working time requirement is also significantly lower with a ratio of winter stables to winter pasturage of 100 to 26.

Feed quality and mass, feeding

Depending on the previous use of the pasture in summer, sufficient yields and high forage quality can be achieved by the end of the year. From January quality ( mycotoxins ) and yield decrease. Winter grazing has little influence on the level of primary yields . On the one hand, scar gaps caused by damage caused by footsteps cause lower yields in the following vegetation period . On the other hand, several studies describe that these reduced yields are often compensated for or even overcompensated by May / June. A reseeding in early spring primarily causes an appreciation of the scar damage with high quality forage grasses and contributes to accommodate the excess nitrogen (see below) at. Depending on the technology used, however, it can damage the remaining vegetation so much that it can lead to a yield depression in the primary growth. There are several options for the type of feed. In the simplest case, the feed can be placed directly on the floor, e.g. B. in the form of bales or as a swath by a feed distributor . However, there can be feed losses due to contamination and the transmission of parasites and pathogens . As a stationary feeding system, paddocks that are regularly filled are often used. As a mobile system z. B. use converted loading wagons that are fetched from the pasture to be filled with feed and then parked elsewhere.

Choice of location & problems with winter grazing

Shallow, dry soils should be chosen as the location for winter pastures. Only when there is frost does not soil compaction and the sward remains largely undamaged. If the soil is damp, it becomes compacted and the sward is also partially damaged to the point of total failure. The development of scar damage in places frequently visited by the animals is not specific to winter pasture. These are mainly pasture entrances, drinking and feeding places, shelters or natural structures that are used by the animals as protection from the weather or for other reasons. In winter, the development of scar damage is promoted, as the ground is mostly moist and, for example, cattle graze less and spend up to 69% of the day at the assembly points. In these heavily frequented areas, the aboveground vegetation is quickly damaged to the point of total failure. In the narrower area around feeding and resting places, there can be increased nitrogen inputs into the soil . This problem is also not specific to winter pasture, but may be exacerbated by the lack of vegetation due to damage caused by footsteps in spring. The problems mentioned can be reduced by regularly changing the feeding places and turning.

swell

See also